Drawn to success: how to bring out your inner artist

Anyone can learn to draw, and from the web-based Sketchbook Club to art-shop mini-classes and even videos from children’s illustrator Nick Sharratt, there is plenty of help to get you started

My great-aunt was an artist, and was fond of telling us that anyone can learn to draw. Not everyone is super-talented, she would hastily qualify – not everyone can be an artist. But given the right teaching, everyone can, at the very least, turn out a decent representation of a tree, or a flower, or a human being. It is like learning a language, she would say. You just have to put in a bit of work.

The success of recent books such as Johanna Basford’s Secret Garden colouring book and Emma Farrarons’ The Mindfulness Colouring Book certainly suggests there are millions of us nurturing a creative side, often one frustrated by our everyday lives. But these bestsellers are marketed more as therapy than creativity – simple exercises like dot-to-dot or colouring-in that help calm the mind and relieve stress. They are, for many, a lovely way to pass the time, but unlikely to end up framed on your bedroom door. So what if you want to create something a little more, well, creative?